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Your First Stop for Piledriving Technology News

Under a NY District Corps of Engineers contract, M.A. Bongiovanni is rebuilding a Hudson River bulkhead at Marist College in Poughkeepsie, NY. Bongiovanni utilized their APE 150T vibro to install the sheetpiles and caissons.

RCC Pile and Foundation Inc., a division of Railroad Construction Co. Inc. of Paterson NJ is pictured with the APE 200 Vibro driving PZ27 sheet pile. V.P.Gene Merlino has been a loyal APE customer even before working for RCC. He knows from experience that APE Northeast will provide the superior equipment, service and pricing he needs to remain competitive.

Foreman John Curley (pictured with yellow safety vest)states, “APE equipment hits the site ready to work. Out here I need reliability. APE outperforms everything else I’ve used.”

Kudos to Gene Merlino and crew for integrating pile driving into Railroad’s diverse construction operations.

APE has completed its full line of variable moment machines by adding the new 250VM to its fleet. Bill Ziadie, formally with PVE, had a hand in the final specifications. He wanted a machine that could deliver more power than any of its European rivals. Bill also wanted a machine that didn’t have all the “bells and whistles” that cause downtime but still has the necessary features that are needed by USA pile drivers. “We made it rugged like all APE equipment but dropped off all those goofy shut down systems that are found on European machines” says John White, owner of APE.

The power unit has the most advanced CAT Electronic engine available.

The APE 250VM has 4500 inch pounds of eccentric moment. It automatically switches in and out of phase during the “on” and “off” cycle. The unit comes with its own monitoring device developed by Profound Ltd based in Holland.

Note in the pictures the close proximity of a storm drainage pipe. The sheets were driven right up against the concrete pipe to allow excavation of the foundation of a new office building. Maximum peak partice velocity readings of less than 12mm/second were recorded at 15ft from the face of the sheet.

For more info call Bill Ziadie at 201 274-3214.

Conti Enterprises uses the APE Model 200 Vibro to drive 40′ sheet pile for the Seaview Drive job in Secaucus, NJ. Pile driving superintendent Nestor Martinez says, “The 200 has always given us great production. Bottom line: the APE 200 Vibro helps Conti make money. That’s why we decided to buy one.”
The new vibro will be delivered to Secaucus in early December, 2003.

Mario Garcell, Conti foreman pictured in black APE shirt, states “APE equipment is reliable day after day. In this business downtime is not an option. If something happens with the equipment, APE’s response is immediate”.

Congratulations to all at Conti Enterprises who have made the pile driving division so successful.

When Creamer Environmental (of the J. Fletcher Creamer and Son, Inc. companies) of Hackensack, NJ was contracted to clean up a polluted industrial site in Atlantic Highlands NJ, they called APE Northeast for the APE Model 150 Vibro. Pile driving superintendent John Smestadt knew from previous rentals that the 150 is “a hard hitting hammer” and would be the tool of choice for 25′ steel sheet pile.
J. Fletcher Creamer and Son Inc. is a successful, well respected construction company that knows how perfectly APE equipment is suited for their pile driving work.

Here are pictures of a D19-42 driving 14×89 H-Piles in Albany NY. August Bohl has driven many of the piles under buildings constructed in Albany in the last few decades and since the mid 1990’s those piles have been driven with APE equipment.

Note that with fixed leads, August Bohl utilizes an APE RHI-14 Round H-Pile Insert so that they can turn the profile of the H-Pile in any direction which keeps them from having to constantly travel the crane so that it is square to the H-Pile flange.

APE invented a new kind of wick drain machine that converts a standard excavator into a powerful wick drain installer. The new machine uses a vibro with a hole down the middle and a sprocket drive system that allows the wick mandrel to be statically loaded while also being dynamically loaded. The combination of the two forces, static and dynamic, plus the revolutionary axial loading rather than side loading found on all other wick machines, makes this invention unique. The vibro/static bottomdrive device is mounted at the bottom of the leaders or mast. This bottomdrive technology can be used to drive wicks up to 300 feet in depth at speeds of up to 300 feet per minute through difficult soil conditions. Cable rigs and chain drive rigs must yield to this new technology. This new device can install where other machines would require predrilling.

APE sold the first machine a few years ago to Nilex Corporation, a large wick drain installation contractor. The technology was so successful that it became a major concern for Geotechnics America and Mustang, two wick drain installation companies that once dominated the wick drain installation business.

In an effort to stop APE from selling the technology, Geotechics sued both APE and Nilex, citing what APE believed to be a unrelated patent. Nilex, fearing a costly lawsuit, agreed to stop using their new APE machine to stay out of the fight.

APE went on to sell the technology for use on a US Army Corps of Engineers project in Norfolk where the APE machines installed record deep wick drains in record time. APE and ICE fought to a stand still. The lawsuit ended when Geotechnics sold all their wick equipment to Nilex.

Geotechnics tried to copy the APE technology and rented their device to a contractor in Virigina. APE sued for copy infringment of APE’s technology. The case was settled with a large payment to APE that included a percentage of each foot of wick that was installed using the APE technology.

APE’s wick drain installer has far less moving parts than conventional machines, has a smaller foot print, and costs much less to maintain. The technology allows anyone with an excavator to become a wick installer. In addition, the APE machine has the ability to drive much deeper wick drains because the vibratory driver and sprocket drive remains at the bottom of the leads. For more information please review the online training CD on our website under Pile Driving School “online courses” or call 800 248-8498 and order your free CD today.

APE is now in the business of selling wick drain material. Call us today for a quote.

Hub Foundation is using their recently purchased APE Model 400 (King Kong) to drive caissons on the 3rd Ave. Bridge in New York. This is the only King Kong operating directly off the Liebherr crane- no power pack. Those big cans are 100 foot long in high blow count material!

The APE Model 150, first introduced in 1990, is still the most advanced vibatory pile driver/extractor on the market. Even 13 years after it first hit the market, the Model 150 is still the lightest, most powerful 2600 inch pound machine available. The 150 can out perform 4000 inch pound machines. The 150 features a suppressor housing that can adapt to low head situations and its modular design can reduce the overall weight to as little as 5500 lbs. The height can be reduced to less than 55 inches. The 150 can be mounted on an excavator or can run off a forklift. The suppressor housing is smooth enough to prevent damage to small squirt boom type cranes, a patented technology not available on any other vibro. Call your nearest APE branch for a free demo. We warranty that our Model 150 can out perform any other 2600 inch pound machine or we will pay $5,000 in cash.

APE has shipped the new APE Model 250 Variable Moment to New Jersey. The new heavy metal enhanced machine is the largest variable moment machine in the world, out flanking both the PVE and PTC machines. The technology includes a new type of phase shifter developed by APE engineers. APE has already launched its smaller Model 120V variable moment machine which has been working successfully for over a year with the Army Corps of Engineers.